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Andrej Holm (born October 10, 1970 in Leipzig is a German social scientist and currently employed as a resarch fellow at the Humboldt University of Berlin. His research is focused on urban renewal, gentrification and housing policies.

Biography

Holm grew up in East Germany. After he had passed his Abitur, the German university-entrance diploma, he began recruit training with the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment, a paramilitary unit that was part of the East German Stasi. After the disbandment of the regiment in the last days of the DDR, he became active in the Marxistischen Jugendvereinigung Junge Linke and the United Left, which were both opposed to the DDR regime.

In the early nineties he was an active squatter and part of the squatter movement in Berlin. He took also part in different initiatives that concerned themselves with improving certain districts of Berlin and he had contact to various Autonomous groups. From 1990 to 1997 he studied social sciences at the Humboldt University of Berlin and finished his dissertation in 2004. Since then he has worked as a research fellow at different German universities and concerned himself mainly with projects regarding gentrification and socio-spatial structure in cities like Berlin. Since 2011 he is again teaching at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

In addition to his work as a scientist Holm is also politically active and involved in several initiatives, for example in the 'Berliner Bündnis gegen Privatisierung', an initiative opposed to the privatization of flats owned by the city of Berlin. Holm regulary writes articles for Die Welt, a national German newspaper, analyse & kritik and others and has worked, for several years, as a journalist for the German newspaper 'telegraph', 'Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik', a German trade magauine focused on politics and MieterEcho, a paper of the Berliner MieterGemeinschaft. In 2007 Holm participated in the demonstration against the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.

Investigations against Holm by public prosecution

On July 31, 2007 Holm was arrested by German police forces. He was accused of being a member of a terrorist movement, the so-called 'militanten gruppe (mg'). Today (2011) the group is no longer classified as a terrorist organization. A preliminary investigation had been started by the Bundesanwaltschaft, the prosecutor's office of the German Federal Republic in September 2006 against Holm and three other persons. Holm and the other three were put under close surveillance.

According to the Bundesanwaltschaft there were two meetings between Holm and another man of the group, that were organized in a conspirative way. That was seen as proof of a membership of Andrej Holm in the organization 'militante gruppe'. The three other men were arrested in the night before Holm's arrest. They were suspected of an attempted arson directed against three vehicles of the German army, the Bundeswehr. According to the responsible prosecutor this attack had many parallels to former actions of the 'militante gruppe'. Holm was not accused of having participated in the arson attempt, but of being a member of the 'militante gruppe'. The main arguments in favour of that by the prosecutor's office were, that Holm had used phrases in his texts that were also used by the 'militante gruppe' and the possibly conspirative behaviour of Andrej Holm, who had used anonymous E-mail accounts in internet cafes and ('possibly) not taken his mobile phone to one of the meetings.

The arrest of Holm was heavily criticised in Germany as well as abroad. An open letter signed by 43 scientists demanded his immediate release,as did a letter by the prominent social scientists Richard Sennett and Saskia Sassen. On August 22, 1007 the Federal Court of Justice ordered that he should be released on parole..

The appeal of the public prosecutor was dismissed by the Federal Court and on October 24, 2007 the court decided that the arrest warrant for Holm should be revoked. The arrest warrants against the other three person involved were revoked on November 28, 2007 and the Federal Court formally determined that the 'militante gruppe' was not a terrorist organization (as defined in §129 StGB), but only a 'criminal organization'.

They were sentenced to three to three and a half years imprisonment. No charges were brought up against Andrej Holm. The proceedings against him were finally abandoned on July 5, 2010.

Publications (Selection)

• Books:
  • Hartmut Häußermann, Andrej Holm, Daniela Zunzer: Stadterneuerung in der Berliner Republik. Modernisierung in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. Leske und Budrich, Opladen 2002 (= Stadt, Raum und Gesellschaft; Bd. 16), ISBN 3-8100-3440-1.
  • Andrej Holm: Die Restrukturierung des Raumes. Stadterneuerung der 90er Jahre in Ostberlin. Interessen und Machtverhältnisse. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2006 (= Urban studies), ISBN 3-89942-521-9.
  • Andrej Holm (Hrsg.): Revolution als Prozess. Selbstorganisierung und Partizipation in Venezuela. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89965-259-8.
  • Andrej Holm: Wir Bleiben Alle! Gentrifizierung – Städtische Konflikte um Aufwertung und Verdrängung. Unrast-Verlag, Münster 2010 (unrast transparent. soziale krise, Band 2), ISBN 978-3897711068.
• Essays and Papers:
  • Andrej Holm: Sozialwissenschaftliche Theorien zu Raum und Fläche. UFZ - Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig-Halle, Leipzig u.a. 2004 (= UFZ-Bericht 26, 2004). (Online verfügbar als PDF-Datei, 625 KB)
  • Andrej Holm: Der Ausstieg des Staates aus der Wohnungspolitik. In: Uwe Altrock u.a.: Planungsrundschau, 2006, S. 103–113.
  • Andrej Holm 2008: Neuordnungen des Städtischen in kapitalistischen Gesellschaften In: Marxistische Blätter, Heft 5-08, 46. Jahrgang, S. 13-21